This week's parsha begins with laws governing vows (mattot means vows), Numbers 30:2, and spends some time discussing the cancelation of vows by women by either their fathers or husbands. I start with this because in the next chapter Moses calls for war against the Midianites, and then becomes angry that the Israelites did not kill the women as well as the men, since it was the women who seduced the Israelite men to worship Baal Peor, in the incident that led to a plague and eventually to the killing of Zimri and Cozbi by Pinchas. (In the text, it is sometimes Moabite women and sometimes Midianite women, leaving some question.)
In any event, Moses then commands the Israelite men to kill all the women who are not virgins, and all the male children, which they do.
This is one of those passages that we draw a line around, unable to understand it. There are similar incidents, with Amalek, and King Saul is also guilty of sparing who he should not, and is reprimanded by Samuel. Why should acts of mercy be condemned?
It is more puzzling when you consider that Moses found safety in Midian after killing the Egyptian and fleeing from Egypt. He is taken in by Jethro, and marries Zipporah, one of Jethro's daughters. Then, after the exodus, Jethro visits the Israelite camp, bringing Zipporah and their two sons. During this visit Jethro shows Moses how to set up a tiered system of administration and justice, and is present during the revelation at Sinai. There is clearly a close bond between these two men. Jethro is asked to join the Israelites, but chooses to go home.
So why such vengeance against the Midianite women now that the Israelites are about to enter the land of Canaan?
I have sometimes thought that the real reason Moses is not allowed to enter the land is that he began his career with a murder. Granted, that is probably my millenia-later sensibilities. But I also sometimes think that Moses is being tested here. A note in Etz Hayim points out that Moses does not accompany the armies into Midian, and wonders if if might be because of his human ties to the Midianites, somewhat in the same way that Aaron calls the plagues that involve the Nile, since the river saved Moses' life.
But at this point, perhaps he pulls away from his human affections to carry out God's will. I find this a cruel test, as is the test of Abraham when he is asked to sacrifice Isaac. Abraham is given a way out. But Moses is either not given such a reprieve or has become so rigid in his obedience that he is unable to see a reprieve even if one is offered. I gave up my life in Midian as a man with a wife and children to lead this stubborn people to freedom, and have given up that part of myself.
Rabbi Ute Steyer, in this week's JTS commentary, uses the social psychological study of group formation to posit that during the 40 years in the desert, the Israelites have formed a group identity as a separate people, and that forming a strong identity means distinguishing between who is in the group and who is out. He then compares this to some of the splits in the present, between Israel and the diaspora, between the Orthodox and other Jews. We see some of that here, don't we?
Shabbat Shalom.